Pediatricians Group Calls For Rescheduling Marijuana Drug To Allow Research

By
Anthony Rivas, Medical Daily
on January 31, 2015

Medical marijuana’s increased use throughout the United States has brought with it a wave of parents who have used the drug to treat their sick children, often with impressive results. However, with the drug classified as schedule 1 under the Controlled Substances Act, along with other drugs that have “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,” there haven’t been studies completed to substantiate these claims. Knowing this, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended on Monday that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reclassify marijuana as a schedule 2 substance for its potential to help severely ill children.

The policy statement comes amid increasing reports of parents using medical marijuana to treat their children’s illnesses, which range from epilepsy to cancer, despite the risks of jail time they face and marijuana-related health risks their children face. One Australian father, for example, was recently arrested for giving his 2-year-old daughter cannabis oil to treat her stage 4 neuroblastoma — a deadly cancer of the nerves. Another mom in Oregon has been using medical marijuana to treat her 8-year-old son’s epilepsy. For both children, other treatments haven’t been as effective.

“The AAP opposes ‘medical marijuana’ outside the regulatory process of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA),” the policy statement said. “Notwithstanding this opposition to use, the AAP recognizes that marijuana may currently be an option for cannabinoid administration for children with life-limiting or severely debilitating conditions and for whom current therapies are inadequate.”